Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

On this day in 1793 died on the guillotine Louis XVI. I recommend Elena’s post at Tea at Trianon. On this engraving you can recognize the Place de la Révolution, formerly Place Louis XV (whose equestrian statue used to stand on the empty pedestal) nowadays Place de la Concorde.

Elena at Tea at Trianon has a post on Sainte Geneviève, whose feast we celebrate today. To illustrate this entry, I chose a painting by Puvis de Chavannes at the Panthéon, probably the most unfairly ignored landmark in Paris (by locals and tourists alike, I must say.) Originally intended by Louis XV as a church […]

I hasten to say that I haven’t read this book yet. But I received one of those unsolicited Amazon emails informing me of its publication (crafty Amazon seems to have figured out that I have an interest in the French Revolution!) I also came across this review on the Christian Science Monitor book blog, which […]

Holly Tucker at Wonders and Marvels posted a great entry on early midwifery. I also call your attention to her other post, not for the faint of heart, on C-sections before anesthesia. It is estimated that, in the 17th and 18th centuries, one woman out of two died in childbirth. Staggering. How could it not […]

I had heard of this book through Elena at Tea at Trianon and wanted to order it, when I happened upon a piece by the author in The Root, titled Sally Hemings and me. Professor Gordon-Reed, who teaches law at New York Law School and history at Rutgers University, writes: It was particularly fascinating to […]

Another great post by Elena at Tea at Trianon on the Marquise (later Duchess) de Tourzel, who became governess to the royal children after the emigration of Madame de Polignac following the storming of the Bastille. Elena reminds us that Marie-Antoinette wrote the Marquise on that occasion: “I entrusted my children to friendship. I entrust […]

I want to finish Amanda Foreman‘s biography of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, before watching the upcoming film starring Keira Knightley. I will post a series of mini-reviews on the book as I read it. First I should note that Ms. Foreman shines in her depiction of the ton, a French word that designates the world […]

I am always on the lookout for French-themed historical fiction. So when I heard of The Black Tower by Louis Bayard, I knew I had to read the novel. The setting is 1818 Paris. The Bourbons have been unsteadily restored to the throne of France after the successive upheavals of the Revolution and Napoleon’s reign. […]

The venue is Le Grand Trianon, the more intimate and (relatively) modest palace built within the grounds of Versailles by Louis XIV, who wanted to enjoy some privacy away from the Court. The place should not be confused with Le Petit Trianon, built by Louis XV for Madame de Pompadour and later presented to Marie-Antoinette […]

I have mentioned mostly dismal offerings in the historical film category. Pretty-looking costume dramas without much of a brain, or, for that matter, a heart. Yet I love a great historical movie (I have watched Barry Lyndon a few dozen times, always discovering something new to admire) and refuse to give up on the genre. […]